IT operating models continue to evolve as new tech and business trends emerge. It’s a constant state of change that needs to be well thought out and managed, with an eye toward fueling innovation.
“In 2025, the IT operating model will inevitably undergo a profound transformation, especially in automation, intelligence and flexibility,” says Alex Li, founder of StudyX at AI education company StudyX.AI in an email interview. “With the continuous advancement of technology, emerging technologies such as cloud computing, AI, and machine learning will be the key driving forces for upgrading the IT operating model.”
However, the core factors driving this transformation are not just the technology itself, he says. As consumer demands for personalization and high-quality services continue to rise, the IT operation model must be adaptable and responsive.
Trevor Fry, founder & tech consultant at TreverFry.tech, says IT leaders are facing two big trends this year.
“First, AI is maturing. It’s growing beyond the ‘wild west’ phase and is becoming a useful, everyday tool. That’s exciting, but means we need to be more mindful about data security and ethical usage. We are also just barely starting to discover the ecological impacts of utilizing these tools,” says Fry in an email interview. “Second, there’s a workplace revolution happening.”
Specifically, employees are burned out and disillusioned about the cultures and flexible schedules they were promised only to discover that company policies have changed. Alternatively, they may be too scared to exercise the rights their employers give them — such as flexible work hours — for fear of being first on the cut list, Fry says. As organizations become leaner, employees are job-hoarding, doing anything they can to keep their position while managers are stretched thin. Since that model doesn’t scale well, it’s forcing IT to rethink how their operating models should work.
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Alex Li, StudyX.AI
Efrain Ruh, field CTO continental Europe at SaaS-based autonomous enterprise software provider for IT and business operations Digitate, foresees enterprises making heavy investments to reduce IT operating environmental complexity. Some companies will focus on moving to SaaS and PaaS platforms, but they will need to maintain certain critical workloads running on legacy systems until they figure out the best way to migrate.
“In 2025, enterprises are looking to achieve autonomous and self-healing IT environments, which is currently referred to as ‘AIOps.’ However, the use of AI will become so common in IT operations that we won’t need to call it [that] explicitly,” says Ruh in an email interview. “Instead, the term, ‘AIOps’ will become obsolete over the next two years as enterprises move towards the first wave of AI agents, where early adopters will start deploying intelligent components in their landscape able to reason and take care of tasks with an elevated level of autonomy.”
All that will lead to a ticketless IT operating enterprise known as ZeroOps, he says. It won’t happen overnight, and to achieve it applications must be resilient by design. Attempting to apply ZeroOps to a complex existing environment requires an enormous amount of effort that may not be justifiable.
“I see similarities between the auto industry struggl[ing] to provide a full-autonomous driving experience, and IT ops trying to deploy a fully autonomous solution for operations,” says Ruh. “It is not that the technology is not available, it has [more] to do more with liability: Who do we blame when an AI agent makes a mistake with catastrophic results?”
Kent Langley, founder at strategic technology advisory firm Factual, says organizations must embrace agility, using AI as a connective tissue to enable transparency, autonomy, and alignment across teams, but decentralization without structure risks redundancy and chaos.
“The IT operating model of 2025 must adapt to a landscape shaped by rapid decentralization, flatter structures, and AI-driven innovation,” says Langley in an email interview. “These shifts are driven by the need for agility in responding to changing business needs and the transformative impact of AI on decision-making, coordination and communication. Technology is no longer just a tool but a connective tissue that enables transparency and autonomy across teams while aligning them with broader organizational goals.”
Challenges With Transformation
Fry says IT leaders are facing the challenge of creating the right culture, since IT operating model evolution isn’t just a tech issue.
Trevor Fry
“IT leaders need to get better at listening to the people doing the work. They’re the ones who see the cracks and inefficiencies that leadership might miss,” says Fry. “But — and this is critical — aligning that feedback with a strategic vision is key. We can’t just hand over the reins [to the business], but we also can’t succeed without their insights. We are seeing many legacy companies start to cycle out of the old ways and dip their toes into modern technologies as they are falling behind their competitors and no longer able to work around legacy tools and processes.”
Therefore, the IT operating model of 2025 needs to prioritize adaptability and focus.
“It’s about giving teams the tools and clarity they need to do great work while protecting them from unnecessary burdens,” says Fry. “Technology, like AI and automation, can help streamline operations, but we can’t lose sight of the human element. Success will come from leaders who actively support their teams, not just direct them.”
Factual’s Langley believes decentralization will be challenging. Without clear structures, organizations risk redundant work, fragmented knowledge and reduced cohesion.
“IT leaders must transition from traditional hierarchical roles to facilitators who harness AI to enable autonomy while maintaining strategic alignment. This means creating systems for collaboration and clarity, ensuring the organization thrives in a decentralized environment,” says Langley. “In 2025, we anticipate leveraging AI-driven tools to evolve our IT model toward more autonomy, coordination and resilience. By emphasizing these principles today, we’re preparing to thrive in an agile, AI-empowered future.”
Raviraj Hegde, SVP of growth at non-profit online fundraising platform Donorbox, believes the two major challenges continue to be keeping data secure and controlling costs.
“The biggest challenge will be a balancing act between innovation and stability. IT teams will have to adopt new tools but also make sure systems stay reliable. Collaboration with other departments will be very important in understanding what the business really needs,” says Hegde in an email interview. “[T]he IT model at DonorBox will be more integrated with AI and automation to serve nonprofits even better. Most [likely], we will be working on smart usage of data and enhancement of our systems to scale efficiently.”
Dan Merzlyak, senior vice president, global head of data, analytics and AI at Postgres data and AI company EnterpriseDB, says the need for faster innovation, operational efficiency and seamless customer experiences are pushing IT to the forefront.
“The rapid advancements in AI, like GenAI and predictive analytics, further amplify IT’s role in enabling smarter decisions and faster outcomes. In 2025, IT won’t just facilitate better, faster outcomes; it will shape them, serving as the backbone for competitive, technology-driven business strategies,” says Merzlyak in an email interview. “Corporate, personnel, and data security will remain top challenges. As new technologies — whether traditional, cloud-based, or AI-driven—become easier to adopt, the risk of exposing sensitive business assets grows. IT must lead the charge in modernizing operational strategies while maintaining a relentless focus on safeguarding the company’s most critical data and systems. Balancing innovation with robust security will be the key to long-term success.”
In 2025, EnterpriseDB will continue exploring ways to enhance traditional IT practices through automation and AI so IT leaders can focus on high-value, high-impact initiatives that drive exponential growth. By leveraging automation and AI, IT will be in a better position to support the company’s expansion while maintaining security and operational excellence.
In the Industrial Sector, Composability Will Be Key
Kevin Price, global head of enterprise asset management at enterprise cloud and Industrial AI software provider IFS, says in the industrial sector, asset lifecycle management is problematic because it’s complicated and IT structures have a lot of problems.
“It’s [convoluted] because people in those application roles tend to focus on what that function does, and they try to extend it. [Or] they think about of how specific that individual function should be,” says Price. “[W]hat we lose when we do that is a focus on what matters, and what matters in the industry matters in the business.”
He sees composability being a major trend in 2025, so instead of running everything with general industrial applications, individual functions can be combined as necessary for the specific industry and use case.
“[M]id-stream oil and gas [is] pretty asset intensive and risk critical. When it fails, it’s a big disaster. People [and] the environment get hurt. There’s just loads of concerns from a technology security perspective,” says Price. “I should have models or agents, so I [can] have a system that composes for that need of mid-stream oil and gas, but I should have agents that I can selectively deploy.”
That way, organizations can avoid using a system designed for a mining operation in a manufacturing or oil and gas environment, for example, and instead use components that were designed with the specific use case in mind.
Bottom Line
As tech and business requirements change, so must the IT operating model. Because agility and speed remain top priorities, tech choices and IT operations need to align to make that happen.